


Confidence

by Penknife



Category: Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: Developing Friendships, Flirting, M/M, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-31
Updated: 2019-10-31
Packaged: 2021-01-08 00:04:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21226484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Penknife/pseuds/Penknife
Summary: Infiltrating Jabba's palace is definitely a good plan. Lando's trying very hard to persuade himself of that.





	Confidence

**Author's Note:**

  * For [The_Plaid_Slytherin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Plaid_Slytherin/gifts).

The _Millennium Falcon_ is too conspicuous to go anywhere near Tatooine until it's time for the big finish, so they've acquired a nondescript transport, an Alliance ship that used to be a disreputable merchant vessel. Luke is flying, while Lando sprawls casually in the second seat, determined to convey the impression that he is confident that impersonating a guard in Jabba the Hutt's desert fortress can only end well. He's the one who suggested this part of the plan, and he'd rather not have another argument about its merits. 

"I still think I should be the one going in," Luke says, so apparently they're doing that. "This is my home planet." 

"Which is exactly why there's too much chance that you'll be recognized," Lando points out, not for the first time. Too many people on Tatooine can identify Luke. Too many people in Mos Eisley know Luke left town with Han Solo. And people who meet Luke tend to remember him. 

"True, but …" 

"You're at the top of the Empire's most wanted list right now, remember? Every bounty hunter in the galaxy has your description by now, complete with every distinguishing feature." Luke curls the fingers of his gloved right hand into his palm in an uneasy gesture that makes Lando sorry he mentioned distinguishing features. "'Local accent, penchant for monochrome dress, far too handsome for his own good, carries a lightsaber...'" 

"I wouldn't show the lightsaber off," Luke says, but now he looks amused, a little surprised to be appreciated, maybe, but not displeased. 

Lando is happy to continue appreciating, because that's a way of combating nerves that reliably works for him, and anyway, there's plenty to appreciate here. He lets his sprawl in the seat become more deliberate. "Trust me, no one who has seen you is likely to forget you." 

"I think no one who's seen the lightsaber is likely to forget the lightsaber," Luke says. Lando suspects Luke of having gone through an awkward stage at some point, because he doesn't seem to have noticed that he now turns heads. 

"It's not all about your lightsaber," Lando says, with a quick assaying glance. "There are other attractions." 

That wins a smile, and then an expression that's a little too perceptive. "You're nervous," Luke says. 

"Let's move briskly past that question." 

"I'm not saying you shouldn't be. I'm just saying, you don't have to do this." 

"You're the one who doesn't have to be here right now," Lando says, because whatever it takes to clean up the mess he's made, that's what he owes Han. "No one would blame you if you took a little more time to get on your feet." That might not be entirely true -- Leia and Chewie are both determined to move fast, and he is certain himself that they don't have all the time in the world -- but he's also aware that Luke released himself from medical supervision before anyone on the medical frigate was willing to authorize his return to active duty. 

"I'm doing this," Luke says. "Han's saved my life about a dozen times, and he wouldn't have gotten caught if Vader hadn't been after me. And he's my friend." There's heat under the words. 

"He's my friend, too. Usually," Lando adds, for honesty's sake. 

"You and Han go way back," Luke says, and there's the barest hint under the words something there that might be jealousy. Of a friendship that predates Han and Luke's own? Of a more straightforward variety? 

"There's lot of water under that bridge," Lando says, because this is unproductive speculation at the moment. "I like to think we've forgiven each other for most of it." 

"You know, this is going to work," Luke says. He actually believes it, too, which is comforting. Lando isn't sure if Luke realizes that Lando can distinguish between times when he's genuinely confident and times when he's attempting optimism. Luke's tells are subtle but consistent, shifts of posture and expression that he doesn't have under complete control. Lando resolves to teach the man to play sabaac at some point, for everyone's sake. 

"It's all going to go fine," he says firmly. It will improve his performance if he can persuade himself that's true. The best way to gain other people's confidence is always to be confident. It's just a matter of working himself into the right state of mind. He slips a deck of cards out of his jacket pocket and lets them run through his hands, grounding himself in familiar habit. 

"Don't tell me you're planning on gambling while you're there," Luke says. 

"Just staying in practice," he says. He won't take the cards with him, doesn't need that temptation to break character, but he plays with them now, pouring them in a smooth fall from hand to hand and rifling them together against his knee. He fans the top cards to show all four aces. 

"How do you do that?" Luke asks, sounding amused. 

"Practice." It's a skill there are no shortcuts to learning. He used to carry the cards all the time, when he was first mastering the skill, practicing stacking and double-dealing until his hands could make complicated moves look simple. He recognizes now how unsubtle some of those moves were, back then, but he's improved with age. He lets the cards pour through his hands again, and then cuts the deck four times, revealing an ace each time. 

"Are those marked cards?" 

Lando smiles sideways. "I got them out of the _Falcon_, so they might be." They aren't. 

He shuffles again, without stacking the deck this time, and cuts. The card revealed is Moderation, which is probably good advice. The traditional figure on the card is a stylized Jedi Knight, which Lando chooses to take as a favorable omen under the circumstances. Not that he exactly believes in fortunetelling with cards, but he doesn't entirely disbelieve in it, either. 

He turns the card over in his fingers, rolls it across the back of his hand, and makes it disappear into his palm. He's starting to feel better about all this. "If Han's being held there, I'll get word to you. If he isn't, I'll find out where he's been taken." 

"He'll be there," Luke says, but this time Lando can tell he's not certain. It's a different expression around the eyes, the slightest curl of his fingers against his right palm. He's still self-conscious about the artificial hand, which Lando feels is unwarranted. The single glove draws the eye, but not in an unpleasing way. He bends his head forward to examine the control panel, his golden hair catching the light, and Lando continues appreciating the view, because anything further would be unsubtle at the present time. "Once you get in touch, we can move forward with the plan." 

The plan in question still feels overcomplicated, but they've debated all possible plans, and this is where they've landed. Chewbacca's plan was to go in guns blazing, which everyone else vetoed on the grounds that they haven't actually been provided with an army by the Alliance, and also that more subtle methods might prevent heavy casualties on their side. Lando's plan was to offer Jabba a large sum of money, and he feels that the problem of not actually having a large sum of money should be surmountable, but borrowing money from anyone with an interest in the problem was vetoed on the grounds that they'd wind up in more trouble than they started in. 

Luke's plan was to _pretend_ to offer Jabba a large sum of money, and then use his Jedi powers to come to some kind of terms once he had arranged a meeting. This is impressively dishonest, in Lando's opinion, but requires placing quite a lot of their combined faith in Luke. Where they've landed is a combination of that and Leia's plan, which was to sneak in herself and extract Han, with further alterations to be made once he's given them the lay of the land from the inside. 

It's not a bad plan, if nothing goes wrong. Lando drapes one arm over the back of his seat to avoid picturing any potential complications. "You're much more entertaining to talk to than I suspect Jabba's henchmen will be," he says. "We should continue this conversation soon." 

"I'll stay in subspace transponder range. We'll talk soon," Luke says, and then spoils it a little by adding, "Assuming nothing goes wrong." 

"Trust me, I know what I'm doing,” Lando says, and he lets the cards cascade through his fingers again. 


End file.
